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Decadent Habits	By : OverMaster Category: +M to R > Mahou Sensei Negima/Magister Negi Magi Views: 8829 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I don't own Negima. No profit at all is made out of this story.

Chapter List
- 22
- 23
- 24
By Darkenning again:

Standard issue disclaimer: Akamatsu Ken created and owns Negima. I am not him. This is a parody, protected speech. Thanks to my cowriters and the reviewers.

This chapter features an appearance by a character from Haruse Hiroki's charming slice-of-very-strange-life manga, Zoushoku Shoujo Plana-chan!

Decadent Habits

Chapter 23 - Satomi

"So ... Setsuna and Konoka are sisters?" Satomi asked flatly.

She and Haruna had made their way to her private laboratory. After Haruna had recovered from the shock of Satomi's correct guess (or deduction, as Satomi put it) she had finally poured out all the secrets she'd been carrying around for the last week as the mad scientist listened patiently. Satomi had asked a few questions to clarify matters. That was one of them.

"Yes, and they're still intimate," Haruna explained wearily. "Actually, Konoka is a borderline nympho. I don't know whether that's her own fault, or whether that Arika woman is a bad influence, or what's going on. I want to think that it's Arika's fault, because, like I said, she's the one who's doing stuff with her own kids, but then again, so are Konoka and Yuna's dads, so ... it's just a disturbing mess."

Haruna let out a sigh as she leaned back against the white board she'd used to draw out the relationship diagram. She was probably getting marker ink on her sweater, but she honestly couldn't find it in her to care. "You have no idea what a relief it is to get this off my chest," she said. "If I hadn't told someone, I probably would have snapped. I've been having all these disturbing dreams. There was this alternate version of me who didn't care and ... well, that's not important right now."

She realized that Satomi was staring fixedly at her from where she was sitting on the stool in front of her desk.

"What?" asked Haruna, confused by the stare.

"Setsuna and Konoka are sisters," Satomi repeated, in the same flat tone.

Haruna blinked. "Yes," she said loudly. "You've asked that three times, now. Why do you keep coming back to it? Frankly, the daddy/daughter stuff is a lot more -"

"I keep coming back to it because it's the one thing about this whole situation that makes the least amount of sense. It's the least plausible part of anything you've said."

Now Haruna was staring. "Are you saying I made it up or -"

"No, that's not what I'm saying," Hakase said, holding up a hand and waving it in negation. "I accept that you believe what you're saying. I accept that you are relating what you were told. But the plural of anecdote isn't evidence, and reality doesn't care what anyone believes about it."

"You've completely lost me," Haruna informed her.

Satomi rubbed her head. "Okay. According to you, Konoka's father, Konoe Eishun, had a relationship with a youkai of the bird tribe who eventually gave birth to Setsuna. That's the story you're telling me. Do you really not see the problem with that story?"

"Oh, so you don't believe in hanyou?" Haruna frowned. "Come off it, Hakase, you had to have seen Set-chan's wings during the festival. And anyway, what about that reality doesn't care stuff you just said?"

"You're not understanding me, Haruna," Satomi said, getting up off her bench. "I accept that something that people call magic exists, and that there are a lot more things I don't know about now. But that realization is not a license to chuck out roughly twenty-six hundred years of reason and rationality. I will use the tools available to me to understand and explore this new world. I will not cast aside previous understandings of how the world works simply because some things seem to contradict them. Rather, I will try to see whether these contradictory elements can be explained, and then, if they cannot, I will modify my theories. That is how you do science - by being open-minded but skeptical."

Haruna stared at her for a moment, then applauded delicately.

"Okay, fine. That was a bit melodramatic on my part," Satomi allowed. "Would you be impressed if I were to tell you that my understanding of the situation indicates that Setsuna and Konoka are not and cannot be related to each other?"

"If you could prove that, I'd be thrilled," Haruna said. "Frankly, if you did that, no joke, I'd kiss you!"

"That would be inconsistent with your professed repugnance for incest, but never mind that now. I will try to prove it. I might not, but nobody will be more surprised than -"

"Wait, what?" Haruna snapped.

Satomi flinched. Crap. "I was really hoping this would never come up," she said.

"Are we, I dunno, cousins?" Haruna asked. I mean, as far as I know, my dad's an only child, and my mom ... doesn't talk about her family, so -"

"No, we're not cousins." Satomi sighed. "Okay. Short version. Fifteen years ago, my mother was researching extraordinary claims about martial arts, and so she went to the Nerima ward where a number of unusual practitioners reside, as you well know. Most of them weren't interested in helping her, but she found who was willing to do so in exchange for a few meals at her expense. One thing led to another. Mother realized that she'd made a terrible mistake and abandoned the project, and, on discovering that she was pregnant, decided not to have an abortion but rather raise the child alone. It says something about mother's sense of humor that she gave me a name reminiscent of my biological father's family name. Satomi. Saotome."

"Are you serious?" Haruna asked, having gone pale as soon as the words mother and Nerima were mentioned.

"Generally, and specifically, yes." She tapped the frame of her glasses. "We both got his eyes. Not color. Strength."

"Oh, dad. I can't believe he cheated on mom while she was pregnant with me. Or rather ... yes, I can, actually. Ohhhhh." Haruna rubbed her forehead.

"This is not really pertinent to our present situation," Satomi said, looking around. "Where did I put my - ah, there you are."

She bent down to pull a silver suitcase out from under her desk. "This is the evidence collection kit I put together in the event I was ever asked to consult with the local crime scene investigators," she explained as she opened it.

"In the event that you - I'm sorry, I forgot who I was talking to for a moment, there," Haruna said, recovering quickly.

Just a bit miffed at that - It could happen! - Satomi pulled a pair of DNA swabs out and held them out to Haruna. "I need you to get samples from Setsuna and Konoka. A simple swab of the inside of their cheek should do so. Once you have the sample, pull the swab back into chamber so that it'll remain fresh. While you're doing that, I'll be arranging the use of a PCR analysis machine and consulting with some people. Does anyone else know about this?"

Haruna blinked as she took the swabs. "Um ... actually, last night, when they came to stay in my room - separate beds, so lower your damn eyebrow - they mentioned that when they took Chizuru-san to the hospital, she told them that she knew they were related. Just by looking at them."

Satomi nodded. "Okay, I'll talk with her. That's all for now. Better get cracking, the longer you wait, the longer until we get our results."

Still a little shocked by the discovery of a half-sibling of her own, Haruna forebore from making any comments about cracking as she headed off.

For a moment, Satomi was alone. That's when she smiled. She finally had a mystery to solve! They'd all thought she was mad, to hope for something like this to happen! Now she'd show those fools at the institute! (In this case, the institute was her elementary school.) Bwahahahaha!

She wasn't gauche enough to laugh out loud, of course.

"Tadaima," said Negi as he came through the door to his room, and walked in to find Konoka, Setsuna, Asuna and his mother all fully clothed, sitting and talking easily with each other. He was very relieved to see that the tensions between the four of them seemed to be easy at the moment ... and just a bit relieved to see the fully clothed part. Honestly, while sex was very exciting, the distraction that it caused was beginning to worry him.

"Welcome back, Negi-kun. What happened with Grandpa?" asked Konoka.

"Well, considering the circumstances, Konoemon-sensei was very happy to accept the offer of the students from Ariadne. They'll be patrolling starting tomorrow morning, looking high and low for Tsukuyomi-san. Her description is also being circulated to all the magical teachers, with a 'Do Not Approach' warning. They will also be stepping up patrols."

"We should do patrols too," Asuna said. "Did you let him know that -"

"I took the liberty of volunteering Ala Alba's services," Negi confirmed, and braced himself. This was one of the parts of this that he didn't expect to enjoy. "The headmaster declined the offer."

"Eh?" chorused Asuna, Konoka and Setsuna. Arika nodded as though it were to be expected. That was a relief. He only had to explain it to three short-tempered women.

"The headmaster explained that since we're still on summer break for the rest of the week, it would be irresponsible - his words, not mine - of him to ask for help from students. He also told me that the other magical students, like Misora-san, Takane-san and her partners, won't be helping either. Just the teachers. And I am also not participating in those patrols."

"But that's crazy!" Asuna protested. "We have more real-world experience than most of those -"

"Asuna!" Negi interrupted, raising his voice just a little. He'd been right. He didn't enjoy this at all. "That's what the Headmaster told me. Do you want to know what I figured out for myself?" He looked at her sharply.

Asuna subsided, biting her lower lip and looking at him with obvious unhappiness.

I'd rather you were unhappy than dead, my dearest, he thought, and then continued. "Who is Tsukuyomi-san targeting, Asuna? What was almost the first thing that Yue told us?"

"She's after me, but -" And then Asuna, even though she was Asuna, got it. "Oh. Ohhhhh," she said, upset at herself, now.

"That's right. If it doesn't make sense for me to go to Evangeline-san's house if she's trying to capture me, it also doesh't make sense to do things that will make it easier for Tsukuyomi-san to get at you, like having you wandering around patrolling. It is wiser and safer to have you in a single secure location, surrounded by people you know and trust who have a lot of real-world experience."

Asuna looked at Setsuna, who nodded shortly. She made a disgusted noise. "Okay," she said. "I see the point. I don't like it, but I'll lump it."

"It's the right thing to do, Asuna," Arika told her, resting a hand on her thigh. "You need to learn patience, or your enemies will try to kill you with your own impatience. You can't afford any weaknesses, dear."

Asuna grunted, then smiled wanly. "So did your enemies ever try to kill you with sex-craziness?"

"Yes," Arika said, dead serious. "Would you like to hear stories?"

"No, no, I think we could all live without that, don't you?" Asuna said briskly, and the consensus of the room quickly agreed with her.

"What about Nodoka-chan and Yue-chan?" Konoka asked, wanting to change the subject and curious about her club-mates.

That was the other part he didn't expect to enjoy. "Well, Konoemon-sensei wasn't very happy about what he heard. So, well, Nodoka-san will have to write a formal essay on why what she did was a bad thing, and Yue-san is also being punished for dropping out like she did by the same means." Deep breath. "And they're also restricted from club activities for the rest of the school year."

"But that means -" Konoka said, then stopped dead.

"Yes, the Library Exploration Club is probably shut down for the rest of the year, too." Negi sighed. "I'm very, very sorry, Konoka-san. You should know that Ayaka didn't want this. She actually asked for leniency when she realized that things were heading this way, but ... maybe in a month or so, you'll be able to get the restriction lifted," he said, without sounding very confident.

"Okay," Konoka said, sadly. "Negi-kun, please let me tell Pal this? I ... I'm afraid of how she'll react if it comes from you." Asuna nodded vigorously.

He found that puzzling, but didn't press for details. "So, anyway, Emily-san and Beatrix-san are going to be staying in Haruna-san's room while they're here, with Collete-san in the same room as Yue-san and Nodoka-san. I'm sure that you'll all make them very welcome."

A series of nods followed.

After a moment of silent reflection, Setsuna turned to look at Asuna. "Um, Asuna-san, there's something you and I need to talk about in private. It might be a bit risky under the circumstances, but, well ..." Setsuna trailed off, and glanced at Negi embarrassedly.

"Um, I don't think you should be asking me this ... but Setsuna, I trust you, absolutely, with Asuna's safety," he told her, looking as serious as possible.

"Me too," said Asuna quickly. "With my safety. I mean."

"Okay, then," Setsuna said, looking cutely awkward. "There's something I want to show you. Will you come with me?"

"Sure," Asuna replied, not realizing the odd look they were getting from Konoka. "Right now?"

"No time like the present. We'll be back ... in a bit. If there's any trouble, we'll contact you by telepathy," she said to Negi as she got up and led a mystified looking Asuna out of the room.

"Do you have any idea -" Negi asked Konoka.

"Nope," said Konoka. "None at all." She was smiling brightly in a way that suggested that further inquiries would not be welcome.

"All right," Negi said, just a little spooked.

"In that case, Konoka-san, you might want to go find Haruna-san and tell her the bad news before rumor carries it to her. So that you can console her. For a while," Arika suggested, firmly.

Konoka blinked, then coughed. "Ah, yes, I'll go do that."

"Please tell her how sorry I am, Konoka-san," Negi said as she walked towrds the door.

"I'll do that," Konoka said, and then she was gone.

"That was just a little rude, don't you think?" Negi started to say to his mother.

"Perhaps, but lately, I find myself somewhat impatient," Arika said, getting up and walking over to him. "My son, from what I am told, you are familiar with the uses of these?" she said, holding up a bottle of age-changing pills.

"Oh, yes, I've used these quite a few times."

"Very well." She handed him the bottle. "I would then ask you to take one and assume the semblance of a fifteen year old."

"Well, all right," Negi said, and obeyed his mother at once. Fortunately, the age increase pills also caused ones clothes to expand with one.

"Thank you. The purpose of this exercise, then, is to permit me to, as your sister might put it, establish some freaking ephebophilia." She took Negi's somewhat larger face between her hands. "Negi, I love you regardless of how you look ... but I admit that I will feel more comfortable as your lover when you are as old as you look now. For at this size, I need neither bend so far nor kneel to do this." She kissed him passionately and forcefully.

To Negi, it felt strange. The tangible illusion in which he was surrounded conveyed the sensation of being touched, but there was a minute but perceptible delay between the stimulus and his awareness of it. The sensation of his mother's lips on his own was different from the way that it felt when he was in his natural form. It wasn't bad, just ... different.

So too was the sensation he felt as she reached with one hand to stroke him there. She pulled back, and there was a smile on her face. "Ah. You have grown." With one hand, she undid the button of his pants - he'd stopped wearing his belt recently - slid down the zipper, and reached in. He groaned softly as she took him in hand.

"This exercise will involve only fellatio and intercourse," Arika explained. "While in this state you have the size to better develop technique with paizuri, I have, I think, explained to you that paizuri is - what?" Her eyes stared deeply into his own.

Oh, a test. "Primarially a way for a woman to satisfy a man, rather than anything she will voluntarily enjoy," he repeated from memory. "In some cases, it might even be used simply as a way for a man to assert dominance over a woman. But, ma'am, don't women generally enjoy cunnilingus?"

"Yes, that is quite true, and it's praiseworthy that you remember that," she said as she slid his suspenders off his shoulders and let his pants fall. "But we are engaging in absolute minimal foreplay on this occasion. I am or will be sufficiently lubricated by the time arrives for you to penetrate my cunt." He noted again, as she dropped down to one knee in front of him, the odd dichotomy of her normally precise words and the blunt words she used for the genitalia. But she had taken him into her mouth, and it was hard to think about such matters.

He grew harder as her lips, teeth and tongue moved up and down him. She was beyond any doubt the most skilled fellatrix of his admittedly limited experience, Negi decided as he ran his fingers through her hair. After only a few moments, he was as hard as ever; harder, actually, if the sensations of the disguise were to be trusted. Arika pulled back and rose to her feet, one hand wrapping around his hardness as she started pushing him towards the bunkbeds. "Lift my skirt, please," she said.

Unsteadily, as he backed up, he reached down slowly hiked up the skirt that stretched down to her ankles until its hemline was up around her hips. This revealed that she was wearing garters and stockings, but no panties. That done, she paused, then slowly turned them both around so that she was backing towards the bunkbeds and - gently, ever gently - pulling him with them. She pulled him - still gently - with her as she sat down on the bottom bunk. Their distance between their hips closed, and she firmly guided his hardness -

"Are you thinking of this as a hardness?" she asked abruptly.

"Um," he answered, not wanting to lie.

"What is this?" she asked, squeezing slightly.

"That is ... my cock," he answered.

"And this?" she asked, spreading her lower lips.

"That ... is the cunt I came out of," Negi answered.

"Almost correct. It is the cunt you will soon cum into again," Arika answered. And then she pushed, and pulled, and guided, and his cock was in her cunt.

"Do it now. Do it hard. Do it long," she told him.

And he did, pumping back and forth, hands on her sides as he pushed up and into her, as her legs came up and crossed behind his rear to pull him in further. He managed a respectable ten minutes before his breathing changed, telling her that he was fighting off orgasm.

"Do not fight it. Give in to it, give it into me, give me my grandchildren -" his mother told him, working him like a pump with her muscles below.

"Wait, what? gasped Negi.

"Give me your children -" Pump.

"But, but I'm not sure that I'm ready to be a father at my age!" Negi protested.

"Nor was I happy about becoming a mother at your age, but we don't -" Pump. "- always get -" Pump. "-what we want!" Pump, pump, pump. "Now cum!"

And he did, and though she had not achieved climax, it was no matter. The pleasure was intellectual, now, as she reached down with her extrasenses to feel the sperm fertilizing her ovae ...

She felt nothing. Well, not nothing. She felt wet. Something was wrong. He collapsed on her, breathing heavily, and all she could think was, something is wrong.

Out in the hallway, Konoka found herself trudging. She didn't like trudging. She didn't like being in the sort of moood where one trudges. In moods where one trudged, she tended to do things that she was beginning to realize weren't good for her relationships with others.

But ...

Asuna. Setsuna. Ayaka, even. Meanwhile, I am Konoka-san, still. He's seen me naked. But I'm Konoka-san.

Maybe I ought to -

No! That's how you got into this mess in the first place! said the little angel on her right shoulder, in a tinny version of Konoka's own voice. You need to be good and kind and pure! Especially pure! Otherwise, Set-chan won't like you anymore, and then neither will anyone else! Don't pay any attention to what that awful devil on your left shoulder tells you!

But it didn't seem right to just dismiss the other side, so she looked down to her left shoulder. There was no one there.

What? Where's the devil gotten to? asked the little angel.

I'm right behind you, said the little devil, in a sultry version of Konoka's voice.

Ahh! said the little angel. And then proceeded to make several other noises indicating either distress or great pleasure. Konoka wasn't sure which.

... maybe I need some more sleep. Yes, sleep ... alone.

She was approaching Haruna's room when Haruna herself ran down the hallway towards her. "Konoka! Great! Just the person I wanted to see! Open your mouth please?"

Konoka did so to say the word "Why?" but the first syllable was all that she got out before Haruna popped some sort of brush into her mouth and began rubbing the side of her cheek with its soft head. Since this was far from the strangest thing she'd had in her mouth recently, Konoka didn't really object, though she was confused.

After a few moments, Haruna pulled the swab back and followed Hakase's directions to the letter. "Okay, one down, one to go. Where's Setsuna?"

Still bewildered as ever, Konoka shook her head. "I don't know, she went off with Asuna for some sort of private conversation. Haruna, what -"

"Oh, okay, then she'll probably go there, then," Haruna said, nodding.

"'There'?" Konoka asked.

"Now, Konoka, there's no point in someone having a private place where they go to be alone and contemplate the meaning of existence if everyone knows about it," Haruna said.

"But you know," she pointed out, quite reasonably she thought.

"That's different. I know all kinds of things that people would really prefer that I not tell about them," Haruna said, and there was just a hint of menace in her tone. "Sometimes all the secrets make me just a little bit crazy," she added. Not a hint, a walkthrough of menace.

"Okay, then," Konoka said placatingly as she backed off. "Um ... something you should know about Nodoka and Yue's punishment -"

"They're banned from club activities and so the Library Exploration Club is effectively on life support, right?" Haruna asked briskly.

Konoka stared. "Has anyone ever said that you're really very smart?"

"Not often enough. I figured that was going to happen. Oh well, no great loss, right? After all, everyone has moved on to other things. Right?" The tone of Haruna's voice gave the lie to her words.

She swallowed. "R-right," Konoka said, hesitantly. "Um, another thing ... they've decided to put two of the girls from Ariadne in your room."

Again, Haruna seemed calm about this. "Makes sense, I'm the only one in a three person dorm room who has both spare rooms open, as far as I know, and I already know about the magical world, so I guess I'm the logical choice. Any more good news?"

"No, no news at all," Konoka replied. She wasn't about to confess about being on the outs with her father to Haruna. She'd already told the manga artist far too much already. "Um, listen, I was hoping that I could borrow your room to crash for a little while. would you be okay with that?"

"No problem on my part, and you look really beat. I can't imagine what's been keeping you up nights," Haruna added for just a bit of a zinger. "But ... well, when those two Ariadne girls show up, they're probably going to make a lot of noise moving in."

Konoka let out a low groan. "I can't believe I didn't think of that myself. I must be even worse off than I realized," she said, shaking her head.

Despite everything, sympathy won out in Haruna's jaded heart. "Ah, well, in that case, c'mon, at least we can get you settled in before they - oooor not," she noted, seeing the door to her room partway open. Hesitantly, she pushed it the rest of the way open.

The room beyond was dark, but the windows let in enough light for them to see Emily, her unusual ears hidden by some sort of disguise spell, sitting on the kotatsu as Beatrix gave her a foot massage. "Ah, you're the one they call Saotome, correct?" Emily said. "I'd rise, but my feet are killing me. The distances you Old Worlders have to walk just astounds me."

"You ride broomsticks most places, then?" Haruna asked.

"Only civilized way to travel," Emily replied.

"Mmm," Haruna replied, deciding that she was looking forward to the girl's first encounter with a train. "You could turn on the lights, you know."

"I don't know the procedure. Surely, such an important function will have multiple security measures to prevent -"

Haruna flipped the light switch.

"Or not," Emily said, coughing. Beatrix seemed to be smiling faintly.

"Yeah, this is gonna be fun. This is Konoka, I think you were introduced before?" All three nodded. "Great. She's crashing in my room while I go out and do some stuff, so could you keep it down please? Thanks. I shouldn't be too long." She bent to speak quietly, right into Konoka's ear. "Avoid knocking boots with them, okay?"

"I'm trying to behave!" Konoka hissed in response.

"Well, good. Keep it up." She gave her a thumbs up gesture and departed.

A little while later, Satomi had just gotten the PCR machine hooked up to her computer so that she'd be able to print the results when Haruna came into her lab with the two swabs and a faintly embarassed look on her face. "Uh, well, I got them."

"Well, good, hand them over," Satomi said, holding out her hands to take them.

"Umm ... so this stuff can be really easily contaminated, right?" Haruna asked hesitantly.

"What did you do?" Hakase asked, bracing herself for some wild tale of how it wasn't Haruna's fault.

"It wasn't my fault!" Haruna protested predictably. "I'm just, well, um. One of them had been, well, doing stuff, and I'm concerned that the sample I took from her might have material from -"

"That won't happen," Satomi interrupted as she reached out to take the two swabs. "No matter how passionately they were kissing each other, the bucal area won't get contaminated by foreign DNA. At least not as long as you went far enough back. Which you did, right?"

"I think so," Haruna said, somewhat dubiously.

Oh, for trained assistants, Satomi thought as she put the heads of the swabs into tiny flasks, filled with distilled water, and put them in the PCR machine to start it spinning. "Okay, that's that. We should have results in a couple hours. Don't look at me like that, what do you think this is, CSI: Mahora? These things take time. Go read a book or something. I'll call you when I'm ready"

She watched Haruna wander off muttering, then settled down to wait.

It took fifteen minutes for the PCR to replicate enough for the scanners to detect and analyze, and from there it was just a few minutes for her computer to produce some results and print them up. Admittedly, both machines had more than a few components which were not factory issue - at least not for this decade. But there was no point in giving away all of her secrets just yet.

Satomi examined the results carefully, frowning. She was conscious of the fact that, at the moment, she was well outside her areas of specialization. While she was probably ahead of the class in biology, she wasn't nearly as ahead of them in that field as she was in electronics and engineering. She needed to consult with some people.

So she picked up her phone and dialled a number that wasn't Haruna's. "Hello, Ikaruga-sensei? It's Hakase. I'm doing well, thank you. I need a consult, are you free? Oh, good. I'm going to fax over some DNA profiles, and I'm hoping that you'll be able to examine them better than I can. Thank you, Ikaruga-sensei. All right, fine, thank you, Arisu."

A couple of hours later, Haruna got the call she'd been expecting, and immediately departed from Library Island to head back to the dorms. Her first stop was Setsuna's room, where she found the swordswoman grimly cleaning the walls of their copious blood stains.

"... uh ... what happened here?" Haruna asked.

"I don't know. I'm not sure that I want to know," Setsuna replied tersely as she squeezed the sponge in the bucket.

"Well. You remember that thing I stuck in your mouth when you and Asuna came down all -"

"Yes, I remember," Setsuna interrupted. "You never did explain what that was all about."

"Hakase can probably explain it better than I can," Haruna started to say.

"That's a given," Setsuna muttered.

Haruna paused, then beamed. "You've grown snarky. I like it! Anyway, come with me and she will explain it better than I can."

Setsuna looked around at the blood spatters, then sighed. "Eh. The dorm mother is probably too scared of Mana to say anything anyway."

"She's a sensible woman that way."

They went over to Haruna's room, woke up Konoka and dragged her along to Hakase's lab. There they found the mad scientist sitting on her stool, in front of a video screen displaying the face of a smiling woman with glasses. In the bottom left corner of the screen, the word "Pause" was displayed.

"Okay," Satomi said. "The first thing you two need to know is that Haruna didn't tell me that you were under the impression that you were half-sisters until after I'd already guessed that you were involved in the incestuous relationship that Negi-sensei is having with Asuna and his mother."

So much for being the least socially maladroit person in the room, Haruna thought, as Konoka blushed incandescently and Setsuna glared at her, prompting Haruna to shiver under the murderous intent. And to think I thought that was a silly plot device.

"What, what do you mean, 'under the impression'?" Konoka asked after a moment. "My father, well, he admitted that he's Set-chan's father, too."

"Then he deserves credit for his honesty and honor. Because there's no other way of proving it. When I examined your DNA, I found that it was impossible to prove that you two have any parents in common. In fact, Setsuna, your DNA is ... well, I'm going to have to be blunt. Chimpanzees are closer to human than you are. You only have about 89% of the same chromosones as a human being. And you have more of them."

Into the stunned silence that followed, Satomi pointed to the monitor. "This is a recording of a videoconference I had with Dr. Ikaruga Arisu, a ... well, I'll let her discuss her qualifications herself. I sent copies of the DNA sequences to her, but I didn't tell her anything about either of you, so some of her comments may seem a little harsh. I'll be repeating my exact words."

She held up a remote and said, "Hello, sensei, I'm glad you could take the time to speak with me."

"I'm happy to be of help, particularly in this strange case," said the recording, as the Pause display flickered out. "But, please, Satomi-chan, you have to call me Arisu."

"I won't do that," Satomi said.

"Yay!" said Arisu, suggesting that Satomi might not be all that scrupulous about repeating herself. "So, how do you want to handle this?"

"Why don't you first explain just what your qualifications are?"

"Well, I graduated high school at thirteen, got my first degree at fifteen, my first doctorate at seventeen, and am currently working for some people I probably shouldn't tell you about. I've published a number of papers on the field of genetics research, and you and I met at a conference on tissue engineering two years ago. How are you doing in that area, incidentally?"

"Reasonably well," Satomi said vaguely.

"All right, keep your secrets, I plan to keep mine. But I really do have to ask where you found this information."

"Can't tell you, it'd violate someone's confidence."

"Hmm. Well, all right."

"So tell me about the survey I sent you."

"Well, it describes a mammalian organism, I think, but some of its DNA is closer to a bird or a marsupial. Or an ovivoparous mammal, like a platypus. Or even a salamander. Honestly, it's not like anything I've ever seen before. It's a bit like something like they got out of Dr. Hall's laboratory after she was arrested, the poor soul, but ... something tells me that's not what I'm dealing with. Is it."

"I really can't comment. Thank you for your time and trouble, sensei."

"No problem, Satomi-chan! You say hi to Chao for me, won't you?"

"I'll try." The Videoconference ended. "So there you have it," Satomi said, turning to look at her three classmates.

Konoka looked stunned. "But, but Chizuru-san thought we looked alike, like sisters ..." she protested.

Satomi nodded. "Yes, she told me about that when I spoke with her this afternoon. I asked her to elaborate, and most of what she was talking about was cosmetic in nature - it involves decisions about how you choose to style your hair, your make-up choices, and so on. And I suspect that like a lot of people, your decisions in this area are strongly influenced by your desire to look like the people you find attractive - in other words, by each other."

"Time out. How do you know about stuff like that?" Haruna said, barely keeping afloat in the waves of information.

"I studied it while I was designing Chachamaru's appearance. She's largely a composite of the features of people I find most attractive, which is why I think she really resembles Akira-san. But that's just my opinion," she added quickly.

"Eishun-sama ..." Setsuna said, almost poleaxed.

"I think he was probably telling the truth as he saw it, but that he didn't really understand what happened. This is all just hypothesis, until I get a chance to study youkai gametes in detail, but I suspect that youkai basically engage in semi-parthogenesis, giving birth to clones of themselves, with maybe a small amount of variability added from their partner. And in particular, considering the fact that your mother was a bird youkai, and all the egg-laying elements in your biology ... I'm thinking you hatched."

"I ... have no idea how I'm supposed to respond to all of this," Konoka said after a moment.

"Neither do I," Setsuna agreed.

"How about being happy that you're not engaged in incest?" Haruna said softly.

"With each other at least. But you really ought to stop doing things with your father, because that is just disgusting, Konoka-san," Satomi interjected.

"I'm pretty sure that's over," Konoka said, sounding both embarrassed and ashamed.

"Well, good. Now you two can -"

"Can we?" Setsuna interrupted, rubbing her eyes. "I always thought I was at was at least partly human ... now I don't even have that. Do I have the right to -"

"Oh, come on!" Everyone stared as Satomi raised her voice, something that usually never happened. "So you're not human. So what? You're still a person! You still think, feel, hurt and love! You're closer to human that Chachamaru is or will ever be - do you think she's not a person?" Satomi frowned as she asked that, suggesting dire fates awaiting those who answered that question in a way that displeased her.

"Well, no, I don't think that, but -" Setsuna hedged.

"Set-ch- no. Setsuna," said Konoka, quietly. "In this room alone, there are three people who think you're a person, and one who has doubts. Why are you trying to stand out in this? Some nails that stand up should be hammered down."

Slowly, Setsuna turned, looked at Konoka ... and pulled her into an embrace.

And Haruna, watching, didn't feel sick at all.

"Not bad work for an afternoon," Satomi said a little while later, leaning back in a chair in the two person room where she lived alone.

"Yeah," agreed Haruna, seated on the bunk. "I just wish that all that stuff you said could help with the rest of the problem."

Satomi shrugged. "In my experience, it's often not the problems we know about that are the most serious. It's the ones we don't know about."

"Maybe," Haruna said, non-committally. "Hey, listen, about what I said before ... I'm cool with us being half-sisters. You're all right in my book, Satomi. Dad's gonna get an earful, though -"

"Don't bother, he probably doesn't even remember the episode," Satomi interrupted, shaking her head. "So ... does that mean you're going to kiss me after all, if you're okay with -"

"I'm not okay with thaaaat!" Haruna yelled, reaching for a pillow to throw it. "Dammit, Hakase!"

"Well, I'm sorry, but I actually find you quite attractive, and since most of my sexual experiences have been with myself or with Chao, I'm pretty much lesbian," Satomi protested as she dodged. "And I don't see what your problem is. It's not like there's a sociological problem here, and since we couldn't reproduce with each other, there's no biological -"

"I'm leaving now," Haruna says. "I'm leaving before you say more things that will really mess with my fragile, innocent mind. Watch me leave. I'm walking out the door. I'm closing it -"

And she did.

Satomi shook her head, pulled out one of her vibrators, and took care of her own needs. Again.

Much later that night, Setsuna and Konoka sat together on the roof, under a blanket brought from Setsuna's room - which just faintly smelled of blood - staring up at the stars and enjoying each other's company.

"So ... are you going to tell me?" Setsuna asked into the silence.

"Tell you what?" Konoka replied.

"Tell me why you were so upset at our, I mean your father. There's more to it than you've been saying."

Konoka was silent for a while, and then she said. "Yes. Yes, there was. Setch- I've got to stop doing that, don't I?"

"I don't mind."

"We can't be the children we were," Konoka said firmly. "No matter how much I'd want that ... no matter how much I'd love to be that innocent again, we can't be."

"What do you mean?" Setsuna asked.

And Konoka told her everything.

Next: Natsumi.
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- 24
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Decadent Habits